458 Taiwanese Reported Missing, Questioned or Detained in China This Year, Up Four in a Week: MAC
Taipei — Statistics released by Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Saturday showed the number of Taiwanese reported missing, detained for questioning or suspected of having their freedom of movement restricted in China has increased by four people in a week, the Taipei Times reported.
According to the council's figures, the number of Taiwanese who went missing, were detained for questioning, or are suspected of having their personal freedom restricted while travelling to China this year stood at 458 as of Friday, up four from the week before, which covered cases through October 8. Among them, 175 were reported missing, up from 173; 41 were detained for questioning, up from 39; and 242 were being held by Chinese authorities, unchanged from the previous week.
Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia said on Friday that Taiwanese followers of the I-Kuan Tao religious group who had lived in China for years were detained each month from April to July, and none has been released. The April case involved a Taiwanese living in Fujian who held a Chinese residence permit; the May case, a teacher working in Dongguan, Guangdong; the June case, a businessperson based in Shenzhen; and the July case, a Taiwanese who had retired to Zhangzhou, Fujian. Luo said earlier cases involved short-term trips or cross-strait cultural exchanges, while the latest detainees were long-term residents detained for religious reasons.
Luo also said three Taiwanese I-Kuan Tao followers detained in October 2024 were prosecuted under Article 300 of China's Criminal Law and sentenced to two to three years in prison; one is still serving the sentence, one has returned to Taiwan after completing it, and the third has finished the sentence but has not yet been able to return. He urged I-Kuan Tao followers travelling to China to raise the risk level to a "red alert" and return to Taiwan immediately.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 大陆委员会所在的台北中央联合办公大楼。照片：Diamo Laung Bobpuao／Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 4.0）。The Joint Central Government Office Building in Taipei, home to the Mainland Affairs Council. Photo: Diamo Laung Bobpuao / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
